With KV Venkataramanan, CEO & MD of Larsen and Toubro (L&T), retiring later this month, news on his successor is eagerly awaited. It’s possible there could be an announcement at the engineering firm’s 70thannual general meeting scheduled for September 9 but it’s more likely the company will wait a few more days.

Group executive chairman AM Naik, has on occasion remarked he has been grooming two insiders for the top job; he has also indicated he is working on building an entire team.

Naik is among the oldest executive professionals in the corporate sector having turned 73 in June and five years older than Yogesh Chander Deveshwar, chairman at Kolkata-headquartered ITC, who turned 68 in February.

There is some talk that SN Subrahmanyan, 54, currently whole time director and senior executive VP (construction and infrastructure) is in the running to take over from Venkataramanan but the reports are unsubstantiated.

Apart from Subrahmanyan’s seniority which makes him eligible for the post, he also oversees a large chunk of L&T’s fast-growing businesses which account for half the company’s consolidated revenues of R92761.66 crore.

The post of chairman and managing director was bifurcated in April 2012 with Naik becoming group executive chairman and continuing to hold executive powers. Venkataramanan, then whole-time director and president of the hydrocarbon business, was elevated as the CEO and MD.

Naik had been appointed chairman and managing director in 2003 but since 2012 Venkataramanan has been looking after the company’s day-to-day business.

Chirag Negandhi, MD, Institutional Equities at Axis Capital believes succession is not a concern from the market’s viewpoint. “It is a company run by professionals and not a family-owned business so finding talent is not a concern,” Negandhi said.

Amit Tandon, managing director, Institutional Investor Advisory Services (IiAS), believes the succession is high on the minds of the shareholders, “However, with e-voting coming in, AGMs have lost their bite when it comes to such issues,” Tandon said.

He adds that while companies are free to decide the retirement age for top management, it would be good to have a retirement policy so that the boards of companies and the markets are prepared for the transition.